In 2001 I began painting as a means of dealing with family tragedies. I am self-taught . My favorite mediums are oil , and oil pastels. I love the immediacy of oil pastels because I like to work fast. I was born in Detroit, but moved a lot growing up, to a farm , to Mission Beach in California , to the heartland of industry in Ohio and then to an island in Michigan on Lake St. Clair. My subjects in my work vary as much as my scenery did when I was growing up. I paint in my pre-civil war log cabin home studio which is tucked in the woods , on a mountain top in West Virginia. Biggest influences on my art were the fauvist’s Marc Chagall, Matisse and, 60’s artist, Peter Max.My art is in private collections throughout the USA and in several countries throughout Europe.